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213
Moving Forward
For residents of Wilmington who
were not members of the White Government
Union, Red Shirt brigade, or the Democratic
Party, recovery from the 1898 election
campaign and violence was difficult. Most
of these men and women, primarily African
Americans, maintained a tenuous existence
as wage earners in the households or on the
docks of white employers. Upper- class
African American families maintained their
property ownership, but their sons and
daughters began to move away from the
city. 74
Former Democrats who had switched
to Fusion tried to salvage their political and
social standing. Frank Dempsey, a white
man, was forced to resign his position on the
New Hanover County Board of Education
and later wrote in the papers that he would
not “ be led off as [ he] was before by
designing men and intend not to serve in any
office in which a negro [ was] with [ him] in
said office.” Wilmington grew increasingly
hostile to white non- Democrats, and many
men sought to make peace with the new
Democratic power brokers or— like W. J.
Harris and L. H. Bryant— to simply leave
the city because of hostilities. 75 The
Democratic Party also tried to keep other
people under its thumb. When a rumor
circulated that President McKinley planed to
return George French to the city as
postmaster, local businessmen sent a petition
to McKinley—“ Mr. French has rendered
himself peculiarly obnoxious to the citizens
here, and his presence . . . would roughly jar
the peace . . . that now possesses the
74 For a good overview of Wilmington’s African
American community, see Reaves, Strength Through
Struggle.
75 For articles demonstrating how Wilmington’s
climate changed for non- Democrats, see the Morning
Star ( Wilmington), November 16, 17, 1898, and the
Wilmington Messenger, November 16 – December 7,
1898. Contested Election Case, 387, 394.
community.” They also threatened French,
who, they contended, was “ sufficiently
aware of the temper of the white people of
Wilmington to know that it would not do for
him to return to this city even with a United
States commission in his pocket.” 76
The “ negro problem” continued even
after the disfranchisement amendment was
ratified. Many felt the answer to the
“ question” was two- fold— disfranchisement
and proper education. Some white
educators such as Charles L. Coon
attempted to provide what they deemed a
proper education for blacks— primarily the
training to be good workers. Reflecting the
sentiment in newspapers and intellectual
discussions in both black and white circles,
John J. Blair, white superintendent of New
Hanover County schools in 1905, believed
that the “ solution of the race problem” was
in the proper education of African American
boys and girls. He thought black education
should teach a student “ how to live and how
to labor … to sustain himself and aid others,
to gain from his books a reasonable amount
of learning and receive lasting lessons in
morals and manners.” 77 Conversely, men
such as Alfred Moore Waddell thought that
whites should quit trying to educate blacks
because it would not solve “ social and
political evils.” Such men who became
known as exclusionists pointed out the
failure of black education— for it made
blacks more assertive. They perceived that
new generations of blacks were not
complacent but instead were “ indifferent,
unreliable, untrained, and indolent” as a
result of an educational system that
promoted equal education for both races. 78
76 Wilmington Messenger August 1, 1899; Morning
Star ( Wilmington), August 3, 1899; McDuffie,
“ Politics in Wilmington,” 790.
77 Blair quoted from Wilmington Messenger, June 7,
1905 as found in Reaves, Strength Through Struggle,
154.
78 Waddell as quoted in Leloudis, Schooling the New
South, 177- 8.

213
Moving Forward
For residents of Wilmington who
were not members of the White Government
Union, Red Shirt brigade, or the Democratic
Party, recovery from the 1898 election
campaign and violence was difficult. Most
of these men and women, primarily African
Americans, maintained a tenuous existence
as wage earners in the households or on the
docks of white employers. Upper- class
African American families maintained their
property ownership, but their sons and
daughters began to move away from the
city. 74
Former Democrats who had switched
to Fusion tried to salvage their political and
social standing. Frank Dempsey, a white
man, was forced to resign his position on the
New Hanover County Board of Education
and later wrote in the papers that he would
not “ be led off as [ he] was before by
designing men and intend not to serve in any
office in which a negro [ was] with [ him] in
said office.” Wilmington grew increasingly
hostile to white non- Democrats, and many
men sought to make peace with the new
Democratic power brokers or— like W. J.
Harris and L. H. Bryant— to simply leave
the city because of hostilities. 75 The
Democratic Party also tried to keep other
people under its thumb. When a rumor
circulated that President McKinley planed to
return George French to the city as
postmaster, local businessmen sent a petition
to McKinley—“ Mr. French has rendered
himself peculiarly obnoxious to the citizens
here, and his presence . . . would roughly jar
the peace . . . that now possesses the
74 For a good overview of Wilmington’s African
American community, see Reaves, Strength Through
Struggle.
75 For articles demonstrating how Wilmington’s
climate changed for non- Democrats, see the Morning
Star ( Wilmington), November 16, 17, 1898, and the
Wilmington Messenger, November 16 – December 7,
1898. Contested Election Case, 387, 394.
community.” They also threatened French,
who, they contended, was “ sufficiently
aware of the temper of the white people of
Wilmington to know that it would not do for
him to return to this city even with a United
States commission in his pocket.” 76
The “ negro problem” continued even
after the disfranchisement amendment was
ratified. Many felt the answer to the
“ question” was two- fold— disfranchisement
and proper education. Some white
educators such as Charles L. Coon
attempted to provide what they deemed a
proper education for blacks— primarily the
training to be good workers. Reflecting the
sentiment in newspapers and intellectual
discussions in both black and white circles,
John J. Blair, white superintendent of New
Hanover County schools in 1905, believed
that the “ solution of the race problem” was
in the proper education of African American
boys and girls. He thought black education
should teach a student “ how to live and how
to labor … to sustain himself and aid others,
to gain from his books a reasonable amount
of learning and receive lasting lessons in
morals and manners.” 77 Conversely, men
such as Alfred Moore Waddell thought that
whites should quit trying to educate blacks
because it would not solve “ social and
political evils.” Such men who became
known as exclusionists pointed out the
failure of black education— for it made
blacks more assertive. They perceived that
new generations of blacks were not
complacent but instead were “ indifferent,
unreliable, untrained, and indolent” as a
result of an educational system that
promoted equal education for both races. 78
76 Wilmington Messenger August 1, 1899; Morning
Star ( Wilmington), August 3, 1899; McDuffie,
“ Politics in Wilmington,” 790.
77 Blair quoted from Wilmington Messenger, June 7,
1905 as found in Reaves, Strength Through Struggle,
154.
78 Waddell as quoted in Leloudis, Schooling the New
South, 177- 8.